Clinton Fernandes
writes on the life and ideas of Noam Chomsky who has
been described as America’s greatest living intellectual
and who visited Australia in November 2011 to receive
the Sydney Peace Prize.

Nic Maclellan outlines
the bipartisan consensus between the ALP and the
Coalition on the need for closer integration of US and
Australian military forces, a consensus which fails to
address the underlying causes of conflict in our region.

Tony Lynch argues
that the two dominant political ideologies of today –
neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism – have at best an
ambivalent attitude to democracy, at worst a deep-seated
hostility to it.

Jason Foster clarifies
the issues involved in the debate about the church/state
relationship.

Patrick O’Keeffe
investigates Serco – the company responsible for
managing immigration detention centres, private prisons,
correctional centres, aspects of security in every
defence base in Australia and logistical support to
Australian troops in Afghanistan – and how it managed to
continually win contracts to conduct key government
services.

Ian Cunliffe discusses
the flaws in the Baillieu government’s attempt to
reinforce its ‘law and order’ campaign (which played an
important role in its surprise Victorian State 2010
election win) by partnering the Murdoch tabloid, the
Herald-Sun, in a loaded survey of community views
designed to elicit support for tougher sentencing and
reduced judicial discretion.

William Bourke
argues that population growth is causing or exacerbating
virtually all of Australia’s major economic,
environmental and social problems. He asks, if big is
better, why do the top six per capita wealth countries
have stable populations under 10 million?

Mike Rafferty
and Dick Bryan
show how governments and corporations, through the
process of financial deregulation and privatisation of
many services which were once free or provided at cost,
have increased household entanglements with financial
markets to fund or insure against exposures to risks
associated with life events.

Max Wallace
contends that the heavy government support to religions
institutions to provide education services – such as the
$400 million commitment by successive federal
governments to school chaplains – flies in the face of
the principle of separation of church and state.

Stanley S. Schaetzel
argues that the greatest danger to the continuation of
all human life on earth is not anthropogenic global
warming – which is real enough – but is more likely to
be related to one or more of the following issues: human
fertility, damage to our genome, limits to food
production, war, and the appearance of an uncontrollable
super bug.

NOTE FOR EDITORS
AND PRODUCERS: For
permission to reprint articles, or for interviews,
contact Kenneth Davidson or Lesley Vick on tel/fax
03 9347 7839 or email dissentmagazine@dissent.com.au

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